De Blasio, NYPD Remember Slain Cop Ed Byrne On Anniversary Of His Death
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Thursday marked 27 years since one of the most notorious cop killings in New York City history.
On Feb. 26, 1988, Officer Ed Byrne was shot five times as he sat alone in a parked patrol car in Queens. The 22-year-old rookie cop was guarding a house that had been firebombed after the resident complained about neighborhood drug dealers.
At 12:30 a.m. Thursday -- the time Byrne was killed -- Mayor Bill de Blasio, NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton and fellow police officers gathered for a special ceremony at the site of the shooting in Jamaica.
The mayor helped place a wreath in front of an older-model police cruiser.
"Think about a 22-year-old young man just starting his life, who believed in something, who was willing to serve others and put his life on the line for their protection," de Blasio said.
"His family lost a good and brave young man. His family remembers, and has remembered, every single day -- and by that I mean both his biological family and the family of the NYPD."
The crowd also paused for a moment of silence.
Four men involved in the killing were each sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
